In a word- Now! Now is the best time of year to visit Koh Tao. We do get hit with a monsoon usually in November and it lasts about 6 weeks. Its not the movie madness monsoon you visualize with torrential rain that drags on for days and weeks, it’s more a case of some strong winds that can make a journey to Koh Tao rather unpleasant and when it comes to diving pretty disappointing as the visibility gets severely effected. But come Christmas time its usually all over. By New Year the visibility perks up a lot so too does the water temperature and by mid January you can pretty much guarantee on great weather as we head towards the summer period as the water warms up considerably too.
So by February, which is the best time of year to visit Koh Tao, you can pretty much reckon on 20 meter visibility, 30 degree water temperatures, flat seas and heaps of fish! February through to May is also a very good time for Whaleshark visitations as well. March and April are pretty much our hottest times of the year where you need to spend the majority of your holiday either in your local swimming pool or preferably out in the sea.. with us!
Come May the wind picks up again but this time of year it hits us from the west so throughout May June & July it does get a little choppy on our side of the island but the best thing about Koh Tao and the reason why we are able to dive here all year long is that the east side of the island stays flat calm with little to no disturbance in visibility. In fact for many of us who live here and dive here regularly this time of year comes as somewhat of a blessing as we get to dive here way more regularly than we have done in the previous 3 months!
July and August we’re back to flat seas, great visibility & it being the peak season its perfect as literally all the dive sites around Koh Tao are dive-able making your choice for dive site destinations unlimited. We do get a fair bit of rain at this time of year but again its never long lasting and fairly predictable. Glorious sunny mornings, cloudy and rainy afternoons, but only 50% of the these months.
Heading into September and October, we’re back to the same sort of conditions we get in February and March though its a little cooler but great visibility, heaps of fish and these are quieter months too so the dive sites won’t be as crowded as they have been during July and August.
So in summation… come now! We’re about o hit the best months of the year for visiting Koh Tao! And don’t forget Koh Tao isn’t all about diving. There are heaps of other things to do on this glorious island so to find out more about that have a look here at our recommendations for things to do on Koh Tao.
Hoping we’ll see you soon. God knows you need a holiday and we need some work!
